Otto Magnus von Stackelberg

Reichsgraf Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (1736–1800) was a diplomat of the Russian Empire. He served as an envoy in Madrid from 1767 to 1771, ambassador in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1772 to 1790 and in Sweden from 1791 to 1793.

Biography In his early career, he served as an envoy in Madrid from 1767 to 1771.

After the treaty of the First Partition of Poland, signed in February, was made public on 5 August 1772, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg became the new ambassador to Poland. During his stay in Warsaw, due to the Russian Empire's influence in the Commonwealth, he was almost the de facto ruler of Poland in the name of Empress Catherine II who became a protectress of this country. He governed Poland by Permanent Council, which became an instrument of Russian surveillance over the Commonwealth.

Stackleberg had enormous influence in the Commonwealth, according to many historians, equal or bypassing the king. He has been described as ruling the Commonwealth, from 1772 to 1788, as "a Roman proconsul". but in 1780 von Stackelberg's protest resulted in the derailing of Zamoyski's Codex, a proposed set of reforms drafted by kanclerz Andrzej Zamoyski which would have strengthened royal power, made all officials answerable to the Sejm, placed the clergy and their finances under state supervision, and deprived landless szlachta ("barefoot szlachta") of many of their legal immunities. Russia did not want a completely governmentless Poland, as was seen in their support for the Permanent Council, yet the Zamoyski Codex, which offered a chance for the significant reform of the Polish governance, was not in Russia's interest; Russia wanted a weak buffer Poland on its borders – not a strong rival as two centuries before. For that reason Stackelberg also opposed most reforms proposed by Poniatowski from 1778 to 1786. the Polish reformers managed to carry out increasing numbers of reforms despite Stackelberg's opposition.

His failure to prevent those reforms was one of the reasons he was recalled by St. Petersburg and reassigned to Sweden, where he became the Russian ambassador from 1791 to 1793.